On the night of 11 October, the Japanese dispatched an extensive supply and reinforcement convoy to their ground forces engaged on Guadalcanal. At the same time, but in a separate operation, three Japanese heavy cruisers and two destroyers were to bombard Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. Shortly before midnight, a U.S task force of four cruisers and five destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Norman Scott surprised the Japanese cruisers and destroyers north of Guadalcanal’s Cape Esperance as they approached Savo Island.
One Japanese cruiser and one destroyer were sunk, and another cruiser badly damaged. One U.S. destroyer was sunk and one cruiser and another destroyer were heavily damaged. The enemy ships were forced to retreat, abandoning their bombardment mission.
Meanwhile, the Japanese supply convoy had successfully reached Guadalcanal and began its return journey without being discovered by Scott’s task force. Although the engagement’s strategic outcome remained inconclusive, the Battle of Cape Esperance provided a significant morale boost to the Navy after its calamitous defeat off Savo Island.
We had been playing Atlantic based games I our last few VaS scenarios, so I thought it would be good to try out some Pacific fighting to see how scary those long lance torpedoes would be. A nice cruiser action was in order, so I chose the Battle of Cape Esperance scenario from the rule book. It’s not too big and would accommodate the number of players well.
Checking with one of my buddies that had US ships, we cobbled together some forces for the scenario. Unfortunately, as usual, we did not have the exact ships. So, we adjusted for what we had by matching points and types of ships.
We got out the ships and set up the table. The scenario gave points for ships sunk and crippled, with the Japanese penalized for not getting healthy ships of the table edge.
The two sides began to close with each other, with the American radar allowing quick spotting of the entire Japanese fleet. The Japanese took a little longer, but managed to do the same as shells dropped amongst their fleet.
At this point, the Japanese player realized that they were totally outclassed by the US gun power. They had fewer ships and theirs had far fewer guns! While the long lance torpedoes cold shoot far, they were limited by it being a night game.
The initial rounds favored the US side, as their gunnery hit true and crippled one of the Japanese cruisers and caused damage to half their destroyers. However, this is when the US player got a little cocky and decided to close range to bring their superior gunnery to bare. This seemed to be working until all the long lances hit…. In quick succession, US cruisers went to the bottom and took a few destroyers with them. The last cruiser was seriously damaged and limped away to avoid bing sunk.
However, the Japanese did not come out unscathed, as they also lost two cruisers and their destroyers. It was now up to the last Japanese cruiser to make it off the board, while having three US destroyers in chase. Unfortunately, for the US player, only one had torpedoes and these were early war torps at that… The hope was that the destroyer fire could slow down the Japanese for one more run. Well, the case went on for a while like a bad Star Wars film. However, it paid off, as the destroyers managed to get the lucky hit that slowed down the Japanese and allowed for one last torpedoes salvo. One did manage to both hit and prove not to be a dud. It was just enough to bring the cruiser down.
So, the game ended and we went to the points! The Japanese player managed to cause more damage and achieved a minor victory! Well, we now know for sure that those long lance torpedoes are not to be taken lightly!
This was definitely a scenario that proved that it was not about causing the most damage to your opponent, but causing more against an unequal force. Always keep your eye on the ball!
- Manteuffel